A Swedish court has ruled that copyright holders cannot force internet service providers (ISPs) into blocking their customers from accessing the popular torrent website The Pirate Bay.

According to a report by TheLocal.se, a Swedish newspaper, the District Court of Stockholm has ruled that Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget’s operations do not constitute participation in the copyright offenses of some of its users who visit The Pirate Bay. As a result, while many European ISPs already block the site, the District Court has found that copyright holders cannot force Swedish providers into doing so.

“A unanimous District Court considers, therefore, that it is not in a position to authorize such a ban as the rights holders want and therefore rejects their request,” said presiding Chief Magistrate Anders Dereborg.

Magistrate Dereborg has also ruled that the plaintiffs will be required to pay for the defendant’s expenses, an amount which is expected to exceed $160,000.

The case was brought against the ISP by Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music, Nordisk Film, and the Swedish Film Industry in an attempt to force Bredbandsbolaget into blocking the site, states The Next Web.

Though the suit has been blocked on the district level, the plaintiffs have until December 18, 2015 to appeal the decision to a higher court.

Four years ago, the European Court of Justice ruled that national courts cannot force ISPs to filter out sites that violate copyright law from their networks. However, as noted by ZDNet, a separate case referred to the highest court in Europe last month might determine whether internet service providers in the region can be forced into “imposing site-blocking measures” on The Pirate Bay specifically.

News of the Swedish Court’s finding occurs approximately one year after the torrent website went temporarily offline following a raid by Swedish police. A proxy to The Pirate Bay via a new URL connected to a domain in Costa Rica came online soon afterward.